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Topic: Top 5 Political Films (Read 1742 times)

Well, in honor of the upcoming US election and my country's current election (I'm writing from Canada), how about the Top 5 Political Films? Restrictions? Just to narrow down the field, no documentaries... The definition of political is open, but for me, doesn't necessarily have to be about a politician so much as politics in general...

My Top 5:

5. The Candidate (1972) An obvious choice, but I think it still holds up. Heard Redford was reprising the role for a sequel....

4. Nashville. I don't think any other film encapsulates the seventies political climate better.

3. Tanner '88/ Tanner on Tanner. Altman again. Kind of a cheat since it was made for HBO, but still... I think it is one of the sharpest political satires ever.

2. Reds. An epic romance about the birth of American Communism. Who would have thunk?

1. All the Presidents Men. Yes, it is really a detective story when you get down to it, but a detective story where all the suspects are politicians.

This is one of those genres that, of the ones that I've seen, more have been good than bad.Off the top of my pimp-ass noggin though, these are the ones that spring to mind as my fave:

5. 13 Days - I refrained from seeing this movie in theatres because I know the story of the Cuban Missle Crisis from my high school American history class. However, upon hearing mostly positive reviews after the fact, I decided to give it a view when I came across it the DVD rental store. And I have to say that movie does an excellent job of depicting the build-up of sophisticated international political tension that must've filled the White House during this period of history. As cliche as it sounds, despite knowing how this story ends, this film still managed to keep me at the edge of my seat.

4. JFK - It's funny, cuz, when I first viewed this flick, all those years anon, it almost made me believe that there was a conspiracy.Almost. However, as the years go on & I have come to be more knowledgeable about this particular event in history, Stone's creative liberties & licensing seems to become more glaring & blaring. But as a "fictional" political-drama that seems to build & build up to an accumulative effect, it still works for me.

3. Primary Colors - This film is just so full of good acting from good actors ( John Travolta, B.B. Thornton, Cathy Bates, Pauls Thompson & Larry Hagman), that, performance-wise, it has a feel that seems like could be thicker than Travolta's tummy.Oh,and he doesn't dance in this movie, either.

2. All The President's Men - Yeah, I'm sure that if I pointed out why I liked this movie, I probably would just end up repeating what has often been said about this film hundreds o' times already, yo.Therefor, lemme just say that this was the first "grown-up" film that I actually understood all the way thru, back in the day when my pubes were still just thick plush peach fuzz that tended to tickle whenever I scrubbed down there.